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The Long Beach Civic Light Opera missed an ideal time, the Fourth of July, to open its production of the musical “1776” but is making up for it with a promotional blitz that includes an apple pie bake-off and a performance staged for the city’s 40,000 Cambodians.

The performance saluting “New Americans and Old Americans” will be at 7 p.m. July 22. Members of the Cambodian community will receive bilingual synopses of the musical, along with copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The bake-off will be at 1 p.m. July 21 in the lobby of the Terrace Theatre.

Dean Jones, best remembered for his role in “The Love Bug,” will make his LBCLO debut in the musical as John Adams. Abigail Adams will be played by Darleen Carr. Jones and Carr, above, get into the spirit of their roles with some historical memorabilia at Independence Hall at Knott’s Berry Farm. The production also features Gordon Connell as Ben Franklin. “1776” opened on Broadway in 1969 and won a Tony award for best musical. Peter Hunt was named best director. It also is the only musical to have been presented in its entirety at the White House.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays through July 29. Tickets range from $9 to $28, with children under 12 admitted at half-price. The Terrace is at the Long Beach Entertainment and Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. For information, call 432-7926 or (714) 826-9371.

Some of the nation’s top high school basketball players are rattling the rims in both gyms at Cal State Long Beach, where the seventh annual Reebok Slam-n-Jam National Invitational Tournament is under way.

Games will be played from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, with the championship game scheduled for 8:15 p.m. Thursday. There will be dunking and shooting contests before the title game.

Team Long Beach, which has Tyus Edney of Poly High and All-American Cherokee Parks of Marina High in Huntington Beach, is the favorite in the tournament. The event has drawn 40 teams from the United States, the Bahamas and Canada. Other top teams represent Los Angeles, New York, Kansas City and San Francisco.

In tonight’s feature games, Team Long Beach plays Utah at 7:40 and New York Riverside Church meets Modesto at 9.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or at the door of the CSULB gym, 1250 Bellflower Blvd. For information, call 532-0622.